Pages

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann David Wyss

“The Swiss Family Robinson” is an exciting adventure story
about a large family who survives a terrifying shipwreck, only to become stranded
on an uninhabited island! At first the
Robinson family is forced to focus on their immediate survival in the wild, but
they quickly adapt and become quite comfortable living on their own. Eventually, they make a shocking discovery
when they learn that their island might not be as deserted as it appeared!

I had never read this book before, but I had seen Walt
Disney’s movie version of the story. It
was exciting to notice areas where the book differed so much from the movie. That’s one of the neat things about these
older, classic books--- if you’ve got an exciting plot with some interesting
characters, it can be told in an unlimited number of ways. This book was written nearly 200 years ago,
and it’s been re-printed in dozens of different versions for different age
groups. Feel free to shop around a
little and choose the best version for you, even if it’s one of the comic books! I decided to read the English translation of
the original book for this review. The
author was careful to detail all of the steps that the family took to build
their new home. It was very cool to read
about their ingenuity, but at times I almost felt like I was reading a survival
manual!

I’ve since learned that Mr. Wyss may have been inspired by
Daniel Defoe’s novel “Robinson Crusoe”, which is about a man who spends years
alone on a desert island. The family’s
last name could be a clue to observant readers, pointing them towards another
excellent book that the author enjoyed.
While these two books might sound similar, being stranded by yourself
would actually be a very different situation from being cast away with your
entire family. But what do you think? If you were cast off on a desert island,
would you prefer to be by yourself or in a group? Can you think of any specific people that you
might want to face these hardships with?